How to Build a Post-Surcharge Retail Payment Strategy in 5 Steps
TL;DR: Surcharging ended on 1 October 2026 across eftpos, Mastercard, Visa, American Express and UnionPay, but the cost of accepting payments remains. Merchants should map costs by rail and channel, actively route eligible debit transactions, understand what mobile wallets do, and do not, cost them, rework all-in pricing, and prepare for a new public fee scoreboard. The card-rewards changes happening alongside the reform may also change which cards customers use, affecting a merchant’s payment mix.
The first week without surcharging showed what customers see at checkout. The next task is to rebuild the economics behind it. The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has lowered some interchange caps and scheduled new disclosure requirements, but neither guarantees an equivalent reduction in a merchant’s total service fee.
1. Map your true cost of acceptance by rail, channel and card type
Start with transaction-level costs split by payment rail, sales channel and card type; a single blended rate can hide where your margin is going.
The domestic interchange changes that began on 1 October are material: consumer credit interchange fell from a 0.8% cap to 0.3%, and its benchmark was abolished. Debit and prepaid interchange is capped at 8 cents or 0.16% ad valorem. Commercial credit retains a 0.8% cap but loses its benchmark.
These are caps on interchange, not a promise that a merchant’s overall merchant service fee will fall by the same amount. Acquirer pricing, network fees and other charges still matter. Amex sits outside these interchange caps entirely. Commercial credit is deliberately carved out, in part to avoid encouraging business spend to move to Amex.
Ask your acquirer or payment facilitator for a breakdown covering in-person and online sales; eftpos, international schemes and other payment methods; debit, prepaid, consumer credit and commercial credit; and fixed, blended or bundled charges. Reconcile it against your own transaction data, including refunds and chargebacks.
2. Make least-cost routing a default, not a toggle
For eligible debit transactions, configure least-cost routing (LCR) as a tested default where it reduces your total cost without harming performance.
RBA data for June 2026 shows LCR enabled for 83% of merchants for in-person debit transactions, while it was available online to 98%. Availability is not the same as activation: online enablement varied considerably by provider. Ask your acquirer, gateway and POS provider whether LCR is active for your specific setup.
For debit routing, LCR is the main remaining network-cost lever at the point of acceptance. But do not assume that routing every transaction to the same network is automatically cheapest: the RBA notes that the provider with the highest enablement rate does not necessarily offer the lowest overall payment costs.
Test routing by channel and transaction type. Compare processing cost alongside authorisation rates, latency, refunds and operational support. For an online merchant, confirm that the gateway and any third-party provider support the intended routing, not just that the acquirer advertises LCR.
3. Decide what your wallet and tap-to-pay layer is for
Keep contactless payments simple for customers, but distinguish the wallet interface from the underlying card transaction and its merchant acceptance cost.
Many merchants assume the tap now carries a separate mobile-wallet fee. It does not: Apple Pay’s provider fee is issuer-side, roughly 0.15% on credit and 0.5 cents on debit, not a fee charged directly to the merchant for the tap. The merchant still pays the applicable acceptance cost for the underlying card transaction, according to its acquiring arrangement.
That distinction matters as mobile wallet adoption grows. Tap to pay can reduce checkout friction, while a merchant-owned wallet may connect payment to loyalty, identity or repeat-purchase features. Decide whether your wallet layer is intended to improve speed, strengthen customer relationships, support offers or enable a distinct payment experience, and measure it against that purpose.
A genuine closed loop wallet, owned by the merchant and not processed over eftpos, Mastercard or Visa, sits outside those networks’ no-surcharge rules and interchange caps. That changes the economics of building one, but does not make it a fit for every retailer. Assess customer adoption, stored-value obligations, security, refunds and legal treatment before investing. Review contactless acceptance and Google Pay acceptance alongside any closed-loop proposition; Walmart Apple Pay coverage may prompt discussion, but it is not a substitute for Australian market and cost analysis.
4. Reprice, and re-present price
Build acceptance costs into your advertised prices and test the effect on margin; do not try to recreate a card surcharge at the terminal.
The RBA says businesses can reflect payment costs in overall pricing, rather than add a separate card surcharge. The aim is an all-in price customers can understand before checkout. Merchants may also offer discounts for particular payment methods, subject to appropriate pricing displays and applicable rules.
Model price changes using your actual mix, not an assumed average. A small change to the headline price may be more appropriate than applying the same uplift across every product or location. Review how costs vary by channel, card mix, average transaction value and refund behaviour. Make sure advertised prices, POS prompts, ecommerce checkouts, invoices and staff explanations all agree.
Customer mix could shift as well. Cardholder rewards are changing around the surcharge reset; those are issuer commercial decisions, not a direct requirement that every bank cut benefits. Changes to points, fees and insurance may affect which cards customers choose, and therefore the mix a merchant accepts.
Issuer or programme | Examples of benefits, rewards or features reduced or changed |
ANZ | Repricing began 28 September. New statement-period earning caps constrain points on some cards: examples include tiered Qantas earn and no points above product-specific monthly spend thresholds. Bonus offers and insurance also vary by product; check the exact card terms. |
CommBank | Awards closed on 29 September and transitioned to Yello points from 1 October. Unredeemed Awards points convert 1:1, but eligibility and earning now depend on broader banking relationships; customers not eligible for Yello can request cash conversion by 31 December 2026. |
Westpac Group | Changes began 30 September/1 October. Westpac rewards cards face higher programme fees or lower earn on some spend; affected insurance loses purchase protection, extended warranty and overseas transit accident cover, with international travel protection narrowed. Some Black cards gain roaming data and a flight-delay lounge benefit. |
NAB | Changes began 1 October. Some products have tiered rewards, revised names, higher interest rates or annual fees; for example, NAB Rewards Signature’s published purchase rate rises from 20.99% to 22.49%, and its $35 monthly fee reverts to $395 annually. |
Bankwest | More and Qantas cards move to monthly spend bands, with lower earn after thresholds. Some cards also lose purchase protection, extended warranty and other insurance, although replacement cover adds selected benefits. |
MyCard | Redemption prices rise: for example, a $100 gift card changes from 20,900 to 33,770 points. MyCard says a one-off balance increase is intended to preserve approximately similar value for existing points. |
Qantas Money | The Platinum welcome offer is conditional: the headline 80,000 points is split, with the second 40,000 dependent on no Qantas credit-card points earned in the prior 24 months. No broad 1 October overhaul of existing card benefits was established in the sources reviewed. |
Virgin Money | Anytime Rewards changes include lower general earn, a shorter interest-free period (up to 44 rather than 55 days) and higher purchase and cash-advance rates. The international transaction fee is removed. |
Across these programmes, the ten categories of potential loss or restriction are: sign-up bonuses; everyday points earn; earn thresholds and caps; redemption or transfer value; annual fees and fee waivers; interest rates; interest-free periods; complimentary travel insurance; purchase protection and extended warranty; and ancillary travel or lifestyle perks. Changes are product-specific, and some issuers have added limited replacement benefits. Customers should check the relevant card variation notice rather than assume every product is affected in the same way.
5. Build disclosure and reconciliation discipline now
Set a monthly reconciliation process before the regulatory disclosures arrive, so you can test whether fees charged match your contract and transaction mix.
The public reporting timetable gives merchants a basis for comparison: 30 October 2026, when networks and large acquirers publish card-fee data; 30 January 2027, when large acquirers publish interchange pass-through information; and 1 April 2027, when a 1.0% cap begins for foreign-issued cards and acquirers must provide more detailed merchant statements.
Do not wait for those dates to establish your baseline. Keep statements, pricing schedules and transaction-level data together. Record effective rates by card type, channel and provider, then compare changes over time. When the new statements arrive, check whether the detail is usable, whether fees align with the contract and whether routing or pricing decisions need revisiting.
The post-surcharge retail payment strategy is not simply “raise prices” or “turn on LCR”. It is a coordinated operating model: understand your costs, route intelligently, choose wallet functionality for a clear reason, present transparent prices and reconcile what you are charged. The surcharge has gone; disciplined payment economics matter more.
For support reviewing payment economics, routing and customer experience, explore RivaTech Consulting’s payment solutions and payments industry analysis.
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